AdAsia: Marketers have to reckon with more digital-savvy consumers

NEW DELHI: Research online, purchase offline: that's the typical consumer behaviour in emerging markets, according to a McKinsey & Company study that aims to throw light on the contemporary Asian consumer. At an AdAsia 2011 session titled `Decoding the New Age Consumer,' Adil Zainulbhai, the India managing director of the consulting firm, began with the findings of an ongoing quarterly survey across Asia.

Zainulbhai pointed out that based on a poll of 1,500 global executives McKinsey did in September, over 40% believed that the current decade would be that of the Dragon and the Tiger (read China and India).

Against this backdrop, McKinsey director Laxman Narasimhan asserted that multiple forces, most notably, demographic and technological, were influencing consumer behaviour. He said that 246 million internet users were added in China between 2007 and 2010—that's a number that's higher than the total number of users in the US in 2010, which stood at 244 million. "China has the world's largest internet user base with 485 million users right now. India has 100 million internet users.

By 2015, we expect China's numbers to go up by 750 million and India's to stand at 350 million users," said Narasimhan. What also came through were the shifts in consumer behaviour. Consumers in many emerging markets are spending more time online, although they're not necessarily transacting on Net. In China, a non-internet user spends 203 minutes per day on traditional and digital media (including DVD/CD). This goes up to 388 minutes across all forms of connections, if the user has (and experiences) mobile Net.

In comparison, Indian non-internet users are spending 220 minutes per day on all media which goes up to 346 minutes across all connections, if they have access to, and use, the mobile internet. The critical difference, however is that traditional media such as print, radio and television is still growing in India – along with the digital medium – whilst it is on a decline in China. What's digital without social networking -- 95% of Chinese digital consumers are socially networked, with over 80% using multiple accounts.

"Additionally, consumers are looking to engage with manufacturers of brands directly. They see value and expect benefits. Addressing this opportunity is changing marketing dynamics across Asian consumers, says Narasimhan. He adds that McKinsey calls it 4D marketing because it adds an "entirely new dimension of engagement."

The challenge for marketers therefore, as Koichi Yamamoto, general manager, Global Solutions Center, Dentsu, pointed out when summing the session, is to keep the consumer engaged. "Things need to be looked at from a consumer point of view with manufacturers recognizing their power," concluded Yamamoto.